Jumat, 23 Juli 2010

Davis lambasts the 'brokeback coalition'

Former Tory Leadership contender David Davis has been overheard describing the government as 'the brokeback coalition'.

After Wednesday, which was described by some journalists as being the worst day yet for the coalition, comes a couple of tirades from the different wings of the coalition. I'm sure that this is the start of a silly season which will sorely test Clegg and Cameron.

On Wednesday, David Cameron forgot when America entered World War 2, Nick Clegg was rebuked for describing the invasion of Iraq as illegal, caused a spat over the date of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and had to be corrected when he said that the Yarl's Wood detention centre would be closed down (it's just the family wing which will be).

Today we had Lib Dem MP Tim Farron describing the Tories as 'toxic' and Simon Hughes saying that if we were not in coalition, the Lib Dems would not have voted for the Academies Bill.

Tonight, the Financial Times is claiming that former Tory frontbencher David Davis described the relationship between Cameron and Clegg as 'the Brokeback coalition' - a reference to the gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain. (link is to Sky report to avoid paywall).

It ought to be pointed out that David has denied making the comments but three FT journalists all claim he has not been misquoted.